


Taking Care

by babykid528



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Bathtubs, Bruises, Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hair Washing, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Sensuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babykid528/pseuds/babykid528
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pinto Kink Meme Prompt: <i>Chris has been working long hours on an action flick and comes home bruised and battered. Zach takes care of him.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Care

**Author's Note:**

> I'm slightly embarrassed because I didn't see that scifishipper had already done a fill for this until I finished writing my own. (Baths are apparently a widespread form of comfort, lol!) That's what I get for not reading past the prompt on the comments page. :-P 
> 
> Hopefully this is a "the more fic, the merrier" situation though.

Chris is jet-lagged and completely banged up when he walks through the door to their house.

Moscow was amazing. The whole experience of filming Jack Ryan has been amazing, truthfully, even on the soundstage. But Chris has never had so many bruises on his body. (Well, not the kind he hasn't asked for anyway.) And everything fucking hurts.

"How're you doing?" Zach asks as he follows Chris inside.

Zach had insisted on picking Chris up from the airport. Chris normally would have protested, hired a car, told Zach to wait at the house for him. It's risky to have the two of them in one place when they're not expected to be there together. They can't afford to let their relationship slip to the press, not now, and they both know it.

But they don't always care about being as discreet as they should.

Zach had _insisted_ he meet him at the airport. Chris, exhausted and aching, didn't even pretend to argue against him, just told him when he was scheduled to land.

"I'm in a lot of fucking pain," Chris whines. "And none of it is the fun kind."

He hears Zach huff out a laugh as he walks by to drop Chris' bags in their bedroom. It’s not a malicious sound, but it still makes Chris pout.

"I'm sorry about that," Zach calls over his shoulder, full of the proper amount of sympathy for his situation.

Chris just sighs.

Zach reappears in the hallway after a few minutes and Chris is still standing in the foyer, almost afraid to move any further.

He's been in pain for days, ever since they filmed that one particular fight scene, and the flight didn't help matters, but now that he's home the ache seems to intensify.

They make eye contact and Chris must look completely pathetic because Zach's already sympathetic expression turns completely soft and he reaches out his hand.

"Come here?" He asks.

Chris doesn't have to be asked twice.

He approaches Zach, offering his hand in return. Zach takes it in his own, holding onto Chris carefully, rubbing his thumb across Chris' knuckles, as he leads the way to the master suite. They go through the bedroom, bypassing their ridiculously comfortable bed, and head straight into the bathroom.

Zach sits Chris gently on the bench by the door and goes to work running a hot bath.

It should be embarrassing, having Zach run him a bath like he's some little kid, but Chris loves it. Chris loves being taken care of and Zach loves to take care of him, in whatever way Chris needs.

"Do you need any help with your clothes?" Zach asks, turning away from the filling tub.

The whole bathroom was remodeled extravagantly after Chris purchased the house, but the tub is the biggest extravagance from the entire remodel. Chris had the highest tech tub he could find installed. It came complete with water jets and a 'smart faucet' that allows you to set the exact temperature you want the water to be before it fills the tub. It also allows you to set the amount of water that should fill the tub before the tap shuts itself off.

Plus, the whole basin of the tub is big enough for the both of them, for those occasions when they want to laze about together.

It cost a pretty penny, but Chris has never once regretted spending extra on it.

"I think my shoes and socks might be impossible to reach myself right now," Chris admits, face heating a small measure of shame.

His back, especially his lower back, is a mess or black, blue, purple, and yellow right now. It shouldn’t be, but he was a little clumsy, to put it mildly, and these things occasionally happen, especially on an action set.

Zach smiles in return and says, "Okay, I can help with those."

He drops to his knees in front of Chris and begins untying one of Chris' sneakers.

Chris' dick twitches with interest at the sight, despite all the pain radiating through his body. Zach looks up at him through his lashes and smirks once one shoe and sock as discarded, before beginning work on the other.

He knows exactly what that does to Chris, that look, and his grin goes almost predatory as Chris' dick gives another, more interested twitch.

Zach leans back once the shoes and socks are gone and he offers Chris his hands. He helps haul Chris to his feet then, not bothering to move backward at all. As a result, he's almost pressed bodily against Chris' legs. His face is practically buried in Chris' groin.

He slides his hands from Chris' and wraps his fingers around Chris' hips, careful not to squeeze and hurt him.

"Can you get your shirt?" He asks, staring up at Chris, his lashes an even bigger problem now.

"Yeah," Chris says. He has a hard time choking the word out.

"Good," Zach says, snaking his fingers beneath the hem of Chris' t-shirt so he can pet gently at the skin on his hips.

Chris swallows roughly before tugging the shirt off over his head.

Zach takes advantage of Chris' face being covered to lean in and nuzzle his nose against Chris' belly button.

Chris whines a little and Zach trails his fingers across Chris' bare belly to the buckle of his jeans. He doesn't waste any time opening them. He's careful about it, but he's still quick, and he slides them down Chris' long legs, with his boxer briefs, quickly with practiced ease. Chris obediently steps out of them when Zach taps his knuckles against Chris' left shin.

Chris steadies himself with a hand on Zach's head, fingers sinking into Zach's silky, dark hair. He tugs on it a little before releasing it, and Zach's breath hitching almost echoes off the tiled walls.

Chris is half hard when Zach looks up at him again. He runs his hands slowly up Chris' legs, from feet to knee. He scritches his nails, lightly, through the hair on Chris' thigh then, before curling his hands around Chris’ hips again.

"Zach," Chris says. It comes out like a sigh.

"'M here," Zach says, voice full of reassurance that Chris didn't realize he was asking for.

Zach leans back then and stands in on fluid movement. The ease with which he does it leaves Chris feeling envious.

"Let's get you into the bath before it goes cold," Zach says to him, face close to Chris'. He leans in, gives Chris a sweet, chaste kiss before helping him over to and into the tub.

He brushes his fingers tips faintly across the colors blooming across Chris' back. He doesn't hiss in sympathy or curse though and Chris knows he's holding back for his benefit.

Once Chris is seated and situated, Zach turns the jets on low, and rolls up the legs of his sweats before climbing behind Chris to sit on the edge of the tub, his feet nestled in the water on either side of Chris, while he reaches over to get the shampoo so he can work it through Chris' hair.

Chris leans into it: the warmth of the water, the warmth of Zach behind him, the solid feel of Zach's legs framing his torso, the grounding feel of Zach's fingers lathering soap through his hair. He closes his eyes and lets all those feelings just wash over him, cleansing his mind and soul as much as his body.

Zach hums softly while he works. He's careful not to get any suds in Chris' eyes, even when he's rinsing the shampoo out of his hair, or when he next rinses the soapy lather off of Chris' face and out of Chris' stubble.

When he begins working his way gently down Chris' back with his soapy hands, Chris gasps and hisses every so often, but Zach soothes with soft whispers and even softer caresses, before moving to Chris' chest and dragging his nails down, over nipples, and across abs.

Chris' breath speeds up as Zach rubs circles over his stomach.

Zach presses closer to Chris' back then and he spreads his hands out wide across Chris' chest and abs, holding him to his hunched and arched body.

Chris curls his fingers around Zach's wrists and presses Zach’s arms even closer to his chest.

"I love you," Zach says on a quiet exhale across the shell of Chris' ear.

No matter how softly he says them, those words always carry the same familiar, welcome weight. Chris always wishes he could sink beneath them, build a home within them, like they've managed to build a home deep in Chris' heart.

Chris drops his head back so the top of it is pressing hard into Zach's hunched chest. He cracks his eyes wide enough to see again as he looks up at Zach's looming face.

"I love you too," he says in reply.

Zach's answering smile is luminescent. Chris closes his eyes against it and it’s too bright light, but he still returns the smile with one of his own.

He can't see Zach lean in for the kiss that follows, but he can feel him shift, becoming even more of a question mark around him.

_Not a question mark_ , Chris thinks as Zach's mouth presses against his, upside down, _A dome. Not unsure. Protective._

He holds on to the warmth that accompanies that thought, digging his fingertips into Zach’s wrists a little more firmly, just until Zach swipes his tongue against Chris' lower lip, seeking entrance into his mouth.

He knows that Zach can’t really be comfortable in this position, but he doesn’t once complain. He just keeps kissing Chris, holding him close, and whispering love into his mouth until the bath water cools.


End file.
